Dear Colleagues,
 
The Marriott Philadelphia Downtown, the site of this year’s American Sociological Association’s meeting is a non-union hotel that is currently in the middle of an organizing campaign. We wish to support workers and to advocate on their behalf.  Below, you will find an email from Emiliano, one of the local organizers explaining everyday actions you can take to support Marriott workers. Please make sure to pick up a UNITE-HERE button when you register and wear it throughout the conference.
 
Second, join us in an action on Monday, August 13th at 12:30 at the Northwest corner of City Hall (a block from the convention center). We will meet with workers, put on buttons and take action with them.  For those who can commit to joining now, please RSVP here.  However, feel free to just meet us on Monday. If you are attending the ASA Labor and Labor Movements Business meeting, we will leave.  
 
We are also currently working with members of UNITE-HERE to have workers present at the Joint Labor & Labor Movement / Marxist Section Reception at 7pm at the International House.   Thank you to our members who worked with local organizers to make this action happen. I encourage you to forward this message to other interested parties.
 
In solidarity,

Belinda Lum, PhD
Chair-Elect,  ASA Section on Labor and Labor Movements.

--------
(FROM EMILIANO)
 
 
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
 
My name is Emiliano Rodriguez.  I'm an organizer with UNITE HERE Local 274 and work on the team that is organizing for a fair process to organize a union at the Marriott Philadelphia Downtown.  On behalf of our local and our members, welcome to Philadelphia.  On April 4th, 2018, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., workers at the host hotel of your convention went public with their demand for a fair process to organize their union at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.
 
Philadelphia is the poorest big city in the country.  African Americans make up 42% of the population of the city of Brotherly Love.  Your meeting is being held at the largest hotel in the state of Pennsylvania.  The tourism industry is booming, but many in the industry work and live in poverty.  UNITE HERE Local 274 is committed to fighting for racial and economic justice in our city. We believe that by organizing the hospitality industry in the city of Philadelphia, we can make great strides in the reduction of poverty in our city.  Nationally, our union is also organizing Marriott workers all across the country.  Marriott is the largest hotel employer in the world, and we believe as a union that one job should be enough.
 
I wanted to write with some guidance on how we can work together as you stay in Philadelphia to support from and learn from the Marriott Philadelphia Downtown workers.  please do not hesitate to contact me directly if you have any questions (267-776-5653).  The workers at this hotel have not called for a boycott and there are no planned pickets while you are staying at the hotel.  You should continue to patronize the Marriott as planned.  As a guest, here are a few ways we think you can support these workers:
 
1. Wear a union button in solidarity with the workers.  ASA has committed to make them available at the registration table but contact me if you need more.
2. Talk to the workers, learn about their lives, and tell them you support their efforts to fight for justice at work.  If you are a union member yourself, share a story about why you are proud to be in union.
3.  Get a group together and ask to speak with the general manager (Robert Allen) or head of human resources (Bruce Brobeck) and tell them you support the Philadelphia Marriott Workers demand for a fair process to organize a union. Some attendees will be meeting on Monday at 12:30 on the northeast corner of city hall (a block west of the Marriott Downtown) to meet with workers and coordinate a message to send to hotel management.
4. And finally, Don't forget to tip your housekeeper when you check out.

 
If you'd like to hear directly from members of the organizing committee, I would gladly arrange a speaker during your event. Please note that if such a meeting were to take place in the hotel, you'd need to ask the hotel for permission for a worker to speak otherwise we'd put them at unnecessary risk for termination.  Any meetings in the convention center however have no such restriction.  If enough people are interested, we'd also be glad to host a late happy hour on the opening night of the conference and bring some members of the organizing committee so you could hear from them directly.
 
Below, I've included links to press coverage over the last few months in case you're interested as well a report entitled Black Work Matters issued by POWER, an interfaith social justice organization, that expands on our vision for the city.  Thanks again for all that you do.
 
Attachments to both:
WHYY: In the Spirit of King Hospitality Workers Continue to Press for Economic Justice 
Philly.com: Marriott Housekeepers 
Dissent: Belabored Podcast - the future of collective action (begin listening at minute 19 for Kat Payne, member of organizing committee)
Buzzfeed: Marriott workers protest for safer conditions 
www.onejob.org
www.facebook.com/UniteHerePhilly

Prof. Pun Ngai (University of Hong Kong), Prof. Jack Qiu (Chinese University of Hong Kong) and Dr. Jenny Chan (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) are sincerely and urgently inviting you to co-sign this open letter to support the arrested Jasic Shenzhen workers who are currently on strike to defend their right to unionize (also see attachment). 
 
At this moment, 30 workers from Shenzhen Jasic (Jiashi) Technology Co. are still detained after they attempted to practice their legal right to organize a trade union. The workers were threatened, beaten and arrested but still strong and eager. They are desperately needing supports from working class, intellectuals, students and others progressive individuals and entities internationally. For more details, please refer to the open letter and SACOM's video[youtube.com].
 
The incident is remarkable as the workers are standing up to defend not only their economic, but also political rights. This marks the raise of consciousness and awareness of the modern working class in China. Your support and concern are crucial in this very special and influential strike.
 
For the link of the petition, please refer to:
 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdl82DkA67nWz4e5a6KyBUnVrCc9Do-k_9FCsOubiNHO0S5Vg/viewform  (English Version)
 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnnEzX6Si3RjswDPVMuA_D5exUgZCI82kKDbvp6qxgeSZ2gw/viewform?usp=sf_link (Chinese Version)
 
 
In Solidarities,

Michael Ma
Project Officer
Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM)
Website: www.sacom.hk[sacom.hk]
​

​Dear Colleagues, 
 
Right on the heels of the US Supreme Court’s Janus decision, anti-union forces have immediately moved on to their next strategic tactic to further undermine public workers’ unions. This time they are using the administrative rule-making capacity of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to eviscerate union dues check-off in the public sector. This is a bit technical but potentially devastating, so bear with me! It comes straight out of the right-wing State Policy Network and Freedom Foundation playbook.
 
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a division of HHS, is targeting unionized, independent-provider home care workers by altering a technical Medicaid provision concerning “third-parties.” Several decades ago, Medicaid was amended to prohibit the practice of “factoring,” in which providers assigned their claims to third parties such as collection agencies that would collect on them and sometimes inflate the claims. In 2014, the Obama Administration issued a clarification that this anti-reassignment prohibition did not apply to deductions for workers’ training, health care, and “benefits customary to employment”—however those might be provided.   
 
Now CMS wants to repeal that 2014 addendum or clarification [i.e. what it describes as “the regulatory text that allows a state to make payments to third parties on behalf of an individual provider [worker] for benefits such as health insurance, skills training, and other benefits customary for employees.”] Although never specified previously, here the Trump Administration clearly intends “third party” to mean unions. CMS goes on to single out union dues as the only example of a practice that would be affected—indeed eliminated-- by the newly proposed rule. CMS admits it has no data to support the assertion that Medicaid funds are being improperly used by states or “diverted” from the Medicaid system to pay home care worker unions.
 
It is important to note that care workers choose to join a union and make the choice to pay union dues. Union dues are deducted once wages have already been allocated to workers. This proposed rule change through CMS effectively strips workers of the right to join and support a union. 
 
Moreover, the Trump Administration is trying to ram this through on a fast track. Standard practice for proposed federal rule changes is to allow for a 60-day open comment period before the proposal can be implemented. CMS, however, has announced that there will only be a 30-day open comment period. Thus we have a very short window in which to put a stop to this union-busting strategy. 
 
Home care is one of the fastest growing occupations in the country and yet home care workers make an average of only $10.49 an hour. Prior to unionization, they had no health insurance, no workers’ compensation, no standard rules on the job, no paid sick leave. Unionization has reduced turnover and improved the care relation and the reliability of care services. That is why states have chosen to engage in collective bargaining with these workers. 
 
CALL TO ACTION: 
PLEASE GO TO https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=CMS-2018-0090-0001
When submitting a comment, it would be helpful to include the CMS number: CMS-2413-P
 
SUBMIT A COMMENT BY AUGUST 18 TO BLOCK THIS RULE CHANGE WHICH WILL UNDERMINE SECURITY FOR MILLIONS OF WORKERS, ELDERS, AND CHILDREN. 
 
Jennifer Klein
Professor of History, Yale University 

Hunter College's National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions has issued a Call for Papers inviting scholars and practitioners to submit abstracts of proposed papers, panels, and interactive workshops for our 46th annual labor-management conference on April 7-9, 2019 at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.  We are particularly interested in proposals related to unionization and collective bargaining in a post-Janus world.

Those interested in presenting their work should upload an abstract by September 7, 2018 to 2019 Abstract Dropbox  that includes a description of the proposed paper, panel or interactive workshop and a list of invited participants including their titles and affiliations. Questions concerning the call for papers should be emailed to 2019 National Center Annual Conference.

​Labor and Labor Movement Section Panels (Mostly on Monday, August 13th)
 
3174 - Labor, Labor Movements and the Right
Mon, August 13, 8:30 to 10:10am, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, Franklin Hall 10
 
3468 - Race and Labor and the 50th Anniversary of the Memphis Strike
Mon, August 13, 2:30 to 4:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, Franklin Hall 4
 
1456 - Worker Mobilization in China and India
Sat, August 11, 2:30 to 4:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, 411
 
Section on Labor and Labor Movements Refereed Roundtable Session
Mon, August 13, 10:30 to 11:30am, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 5, Salon D
 
3281 - Section on Labor and Labor Movements Business Meeting
Mon, August 13, 11:30am to 12:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 5, Salon D
 
3568 - Race, Citizenship, and Workers
Mon, August 13, 4:30 to 6:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, Franklin Hall 4
 
1255 - Workers' Power in Diverse Contexts
Sat, August 11, 10:30am to 12:10pm, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Level 4, 410

2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike, Dr. Martin Luther King’s last struggle, in the course of which his life was cut short.  To commemorate and reflect on these events, a group of organizations linked to the ASA meetings will be doing a showing of At The River I Stand, a documentary about that history.  The movie will be followed by a short panel and discussion featuring Deborrah Dancy, a staff member at Brooklyn College who as a teen took part in support for the strike and in civil rights activism in Memphis, and Glenn Bracey, professor of sociology at Villanova, who will offer broader reflections on the 1968 Memphis campaign and its connections with issues and struggles we face today.
 
The event is cosponsored by the Association of Black Sociologists, and the ASA sections on Labor and Labor Movements, Marxist Sociology, Race/Gender/Class, and Racial and Ethnic Minorities.   It will take place on the evening of Monday, August 13 at the Ibrahim Theater at the International House http://ihousephilly.org/conferencecenter/ibrahim-theater, near the ASA conference venue (about 20 minutes away by transit).  The movie is at 6:30pm, followed by a short panel (with time for audience questions and discussion) 7:30-8:00pm.  The Labor and Labor Movements and Marxist Sociology Sections will also be hosting a joint reception in the same venue up till 9:30, and those attending the movie and panel are welcome to join the reception as well.